How an <emma>
Partnership
with the Library benefits
First-year Composition
University of Georgia
Christy Desmet, Department of English (cdesmet@uga.edu)
Ron Balthazor, Department of English ( rlbaltha@uga.edu )
Caroline Cason, University Library ( ccason@uga.edu )
Kristin Nielsen, University Library ( knielsen@uga.edu )
A Natural Alliance

“In an informationrich world where
human attention is
the scarce
commodity, the
library’s business is
orchestrating
human attention
structures.”
Richard A. Lanham
Working Together


FYC offers all classes a
computer orientation.
Many instructors
arrange for a librarian
to conduct a
personalized
orientation for their
classes.
– Visit the FYC Computer
Orientation
Background: Citation Analysis
 Cornell
Study
– Undergraduate research
 Electronic
Thesis and Dissertation
study at UGA
– Graduate research
Cornell University Study
 Analyzed
Cornell Economics 101
papers, 1996-2001
Between 1996-2000:
– Citations to books 30% to 16%
– Citations to newspapers 7% to 19%
– Citations to Web sites 9% to 22%
Cornell University Study


The professor verbally stressed the
importance of using scholarly resources
All students attended a library instruction
session taught by a librarian
Result: “…little (if any) effect on improving
the scholarly component of research
papers”
Cornell University Study

In 2001, the professor added written
guidelines to the assignment:
– At least five sources had to be “published,
scientific (peer-reviewed or university press)
articles or pre-prints”
– Students were warned that TAs would check all
citations for accuracy and quality
Result: The number of scholarly resources
(books and journals) that students cited
returned to 1996 levels

“Bibliometrics…has been used extensively
for studying the publication record of
research faculty and their departments,
and also to understand how scholars
communicate through their publications.
There has been very little application of
bibliometric research to undergraduate
research papers. The principal cause of
this problem is that research papers
are returned to the student after
grading, leaving no repository of their
work” (Davis & Cohen 2001).
Graduate Students

University of Georgia study of citations in
electronic theses and dissertations
– “… developed for evaluating the ‘fit’ of the UGA
Libraries’ collections with the needs of their
patrons.”
Used electronic copies of dissertations in
ETD database for citation analysis
 Acted as template for methodology used
in <emma> study

Where Research Meets Pedagogy
 Our
study’s basic research questions:
– What types of information are cited by
students (e.g., websites, newspaper
articles, journal articles, books)?
– Does the University of Georgia Library
own these items?
– What was the method of access, print or
electronic, for sources other than
websites?
Citation in Pedagogical Context

Further research questions:
– How did the teachers’ wording of her
assignment affect students’ understanding of
research?
– What kinds of sources do teachers’ marginal
and end comments suggest are valued most
highly by the First-year Composition Program?
– Is there a correlation between numbers of
citations and grades?
– Does formal intervention of a librarian improve
the quality of students’ sources?
Introducing <emma>
 Hardware/Software
 How
it works
 How it is used in the classroom
 Demo
Value Added

<emma>
concatenates
assignment and
essay with
comments . . .
Assignment-Comments-Evaluation

. . .and with the
departmental
grading rubric.
Pedagogical Implications
 <emma>
allows teachers and
students to see whether essays have
addressed the topics in the terms set
out by the written assignment.
 <emma>
allows teachers and
students to see whether teachers are
grading according to the
assignment’s criteria.
Advantages for Teachers and
Students



Encourages selfconsciousness about
teaching and writing;
Helps both groups see
writing assignments
through the same
lens;
Allows both groups to
see student essays
with a unified
pedagogical context.
Assignment
Essay
Comments + Rubric
<emma>’s Advantages for Citation
Research

Creates a large
database of digital
essays;
Large Database and Storage

Includes
permanent storage
for essays;
Data Selection

Uses XML tagging
for fast, easy
extraction of data;
Growing Research Data Set

Solicits Human
Subjects
permission for
research on data
set.
Compiling the Data
 Questions
and Issues
–Accuracy of the citations
–Defining the resource categories
Citation Analysis: Case Studies
Case Study 1: Fall 2003
English 1101, English Composition I
Two sections, same instructor
 Final
research project
 No library instruction session
Case Study 1
Final project requirements:
 Analyze
one aspect of an issue
covered by essays in textbook
 Research the issue
 Write an argumentative paper
Case Study 1
 Possible
topics:
– Partial-birth abortion
– Euthanasia/Right to Die
– Affirmative action
– Sex education
– Immigration
– Genetic engineering
– Obesity in children
– Homosexuality and Christianity
Case Study 1
Assignment wording:
“Identify a pool of good, credible
research resources for your
particular issue. The [course
textbook] website…will help you.
Also, use Lexis-Nexis and other
library resources.”
Breakdown of Citations
2% Books
1% Magazines
3% Newspapers
0% Journals
51% WWW
36% Textbook
Books
Magazines
Journals
Newspaper
Textbook
WWW
Breakdown of Web Citations
25% Com/Net
36% News
5% Student
Papers
8% Educational
News
Govt
Org
Educ
Student
Com/Net
6% Government
20% Organizations
Fall 2003
 Out
of 153 works cited in the two
sections, seven were owned by the
library:
– Two bibles
– One magazine article accessed through
Academic Search Premier
– Four newspaper articles, three of which
were accessed through Lexis/Nexis
Case Study 2 – Fall 2004
Assignment:
“For your first writing
assignment, carefully craft an essay of 1000 to
1500 words on one of the topics below. You
should include at least three secondary sources.”
 Received
library instruction in handson lab prior to writing first draft
Results



Comparison of Draft versus Final version of
paper
Does a “library instruction intervention” have an
effect?
Influence of review process on revisions
Resources Cited -- Draft vs Final
25
20
15
Draft
Final
10
5
0
Bo
ok
e
in
az
g
a
M
al
rn
u
Jo
w
Ne
er
ap
sp
W
W
W
go
v
W
W
W
g
or
W
W
W
u
ed
W
W
W
w
ne
s
W
W
W
m
co
et
/n
O
er
th
Case Study 1 & 2 Compared
Fall 2003 -- Types of Sources
2%
1%
Fall 2004 (Final) -- Types of Sources
6%
9%
18%
Books
39%
16%
Magazines
Magazines
Journals
Journals
New s
New s
54%
11%
Textbook
WWW
33%

Books
Textbook
WWW
11%
0%
Fall 2003 (no instruction) versus Fall 2004
(instruction) – types of sources cited
Fall 2003 / 2004 Comparison –
websites
2004 Websites Cited
2003 Websites Cited
25%
28%
36%
Com
5%
8%
6%
20%



News
Govt
Org
Educ
Student
Com/Net
35%
Com
0%
1%
News
Govt
Org
Educ
Student
Com/Net
16%
20%
Similar amount of .com/.net and news websites
No student paper sites in 2004
Will the library instruction “stick” over the course of the
semester?
Comparison of
Assignment 1 & 2 2004
Assignment 1 (Final) -- Types of Sources
Assignment 2 (Draft) -- Types of Sources
8%
13%
6%
18%
9%
Books
Magazines
6%
Journals
54%
New s
11%
Textbook
49%
15%
WWW
0%




11%
Books
Magazines
Journals
New s
Textbook
WWW
Other
0%
In draft stage, still using GALILEO resources but not as many
Higher number of “books” – these were citing online edition of
Encyclopedia Britannica
New category – “Other” to include citations to media like DVDs
Fewer citations overall and far fewer magazines and journals. Will
this trend continue?
FYC Competency Standard
“Incorporates evidence
from outside sources
smoothly,
appropriately, and
responsibly”
Partnership Possibilities?
– Drafting practical guidelines for writing
an effective assignment
– Planning library instruction content to
help meet course competency outcomes
– Timing library sessions to work with the
course assignments
– Teaching correct citation style
Additional areas of study

Longitudinal studies
– “Recidivism” rate over course of semester
– Tracking trends over years

Assignments
– Influence of assignment specificity
– Influence of library instruction
– Influence of review process

Library related questions
– Ownership – are students using the collection
– Method of access – print versus online

Web research
– What types of information are students using from the Web?
– What sources do they cite? (.edu, .com, etc.)

Other ideas?
The End